Effect of phase of growth and hyperlipidemic serum on the synthesis of collagen in rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells in culture.

The aim of this study was to elucidate wheter long-term cultivation in the presence of hyperlipidemic serum is able to induce changes in the rate of synthesis of collagen and other proteins by arterial smooth muscle cells. Rabbit aortic medial cells were grown in 10% sera and their collagen and total protein synthesis were studied by incubation of the cells with radioactive proline. When the cells were grown in fetal calf serum, their collagen synthesis was low after trypsinization but reached a constant level in one week, whereafter it remained within 4--5% of total protein synthesis for up to 30 days. Cultivation in hyperlipidemic rabbit serum for up to 14 days caused an accumulation of lipid droplets in the cells, but there were no detectable changes in the rate of collagen of total protein synthesis when compared with cells grown in normal rabbit serum.